via shopbop
Or, confessions of a non-minimalist.
By American standards, I don’t have a ton of clothes. What I do own is worn, and–while I have my favorites–I genuinely like and make a point to wear all the pieces in my closet. As I don’t go out much in the evenings anymore due to the early bedtime of a toddler, my fancier skirts and dresses don’t currently receive much attention; however, I know this is a season in life and those clothes will be worn again. Otherwise I am fairly ruthless, even occasionally going a little too far with the culling and regretting a decision!
But I am not a minimalist, and I discovered this quite by accident. While we were searching for our current home, I was living out of a suitcase while traveling back and forth between cities. My time was more precious than ever, so each week I simply washed everything in my suitcase and placed it back inside. I lovingly packed my favorite pieces into that suitcase: a chunky black sweater with an oversize cowl neck, my black Jcrew Minnies, a leopard print silk blouse, a floor-length black jersey skirt, a jersey blouse that features an interesting cut and a beautifully saturated shade of blue, plus a few more pieces for versatility like skinny jeans, my favorite tees, and scarves and belts for styling. I adored every item in that suitcase. I was ready.
After nearly three months on the road, I was sick of that clothing. No matter how many outfit variations I was able to create, I simply got tired of wearing the same thing over and over again. I had a closet full of beautiful and wearable clothes that brought me joy and acted as a creative outlet in my life, and I couldn’t wait to unpack everything and dive in. It wasn’t exactly politically correct, but there it was: The Truth.
While I certainly still make fashion mistakes, I try to only buy items I love and can wear in numerous ways. Whether I’m buying “classic” classics or “offbeat” classics, I make a point to buy clothing I will want to wear for many seasons to come. But living out of a suitcase taught me I do, in fact, want to wear more than a few select pieces. The capsule wardrobe really isn’t for me.
If the capsule wardrobe is for you, this is a lovely post about crafting one. And stop by The Vivienne Files for never-ending inspiration!
I would never want a fully capsule wardrobe either, because I too will reach a point where I get sick of wearing the same things. It’s why I have more of a capsule wardrobe for “work” and prefer to dress different when I’m not working. It’s not that I don’t love my work clothes, I do, but I wear them enough at work, that I want to wear other things in my own time.
I like the idea of a capsule wardrobe for just a certain area(s) in life, like work. I can see how having a specific set of pieces to streamline one part of your life would leave you extra time and energy to be creative in other areas.
Thank you – you just explained why I struggled the last couple of years with auditing my closet! I knew about capsule wardrobes of course and tried and tried to reduce my own things as much as possible but ultimately failed every time. That’s why I’m so much happier with making a seasonal ‘Edit’ instead and feeling ok that I don’t want to wear certain things but their turn will come and it’s not a reason to ditch them totally.
I have tried and failed at this as well. I also simply prefer “edits” now to make sure I am using and liking everything I own. I prefer some variety!
I can get tired of a limited wardrobe too – I had a similar experience to yours, in which I traveled for 6 weeks, on business, with a carry-on bag of clothes. The clothes were lovely, but by the end of the trip, I hated EVERY LAST STITCH of them, and didn’t want to see them for months. Different people have different needs for variety, thank heavens!
Isn’t it almost shocking when you make such a discovery? I really couldn’t believe how tired I was of my very favorite clothes. At least it was illuminating to experiment with a tiny wardrobe before I took the plunge to get rid of a lot of my wardrobe; I definitely would have regretted such an action!